


The Art of Bonding

by KatsukiSin



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Biology (Supernatural), Angel Bonds (Supernatural), Big Brother Gabriel, Castiel and Gabriel are Siblings (Supernatural), Castiel in Heaven (Supernatural), Fledgling Castiel (Supernatural), Fluff without Plot, Gen, Heaven, No Plot/Plotless, Pre-Series Castiel (Supernatural)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27712789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatsukiSin/pseuds/KatsukiSin
Summary: Gabriel takes Castiel to visit a place that was special to him when he was a kid. During their field trip, Gabe thinks about how Lucifer's aversion to humanity is affecting Heaven.
Relationships: Castiel & Gabriel (Supernatural)
Kudos: 30





	The Art of Bonding

Gabriel relaxed into the frequency of Grace in his arms. The Grace, in turn, curled deeply into him, radiating excitement and devotion. Gabriel returned the embrace with similar emotion emitting from his own.

Castiel looked up at Gabriel with wide eyes. 

"It's time, little bro."

The young fledgling gave a swift nod before disentangling their Graces. Castiel hesitated a moment, taking in the sight before him through eyes filled with wonder, fear, and rapture. 

Gabriel smiled, remembering the first time he himself had first visited the surface of the sun, back when it had been newly created. It didn't look very different, considering only a few million years had passed.

The ground was an ever-shifting landscape of red, orange, yellow, and white. In the distance, large arches of light and gas rose from the ground, framing the plasma that made up the atmosphere as well as the inky blackness that existed far beyond. Gabriel would have to take Castiel for a flight in the air currents that followed those blazing arches into the height of the atmosphere. Well, he would once the fledgling had better mastered the art of flying. As much as Gabe loved taking risks, the idea that Cas might break out of the sun's gravitational pull and get lost in the vacuum of space made his Grace churn frightfully. 

A low-pitched rumble filled the air, grabbing Gabriel's attention. As beautiful as the terrain itself was, the wildlife was the reason the two angels were here. Prowling the ground and the skies were the Kalkydri. Their bodies were slim and long, a perfect aerodynamic for traveling through the ether and plasma characteristic of the fifth-dimensional plane. The creatures were a dark purple colour, almost black, and each of their scales and feathers held a rainbow iridescence, like oil. Their large wingspans and sharp teeth on their crocodile-like heads marked the Kalkydri as predators.

The low rumble had come from a male Kalkydri not far away. The sun was coming up, encouraging the Kalkydri to raise their voices in song. The males of the species, called chalkydra, sang in deep rumbles and roars. The females of the species, called phoenixes, sang in high pitched purrs. The resulting harmony was so stunning that the surrounding ether, and even the hydrogen and helium molecules, began to resonate with the music as though singing and dancing along. 

Castiel sucked in a breath, gaping at the occasion. 

Gabriel moved forward, closer to his brother, and lowered himself to the same height as the fledgling. "You'll want to go now," Gabe said softly to leave the singing wildlife undisturbed. "The rising sun tames them, but it won't last forever."

Castiel walked forward with his head held high, confident despite being in a location so unknown to him. Gabriel watched him carefully, with wings slightly extended, just in case anything went wrong and his little brother needed a quick escape. 

The oldest Kalkydri were almost as big as Gabriel himself, but the younger ones were hardly half of Castiel's size. 

Castiel wandered the field, curiously making his way from one Kalkydri to the next. The animals didn't pay any attention to him, far too busy with their song to care about the roving angel in their midst. 

At least, all the Kalkydri but one were too busy. 

Castiel gazed at the Kalkydri, and it turned its head to gaze right back at the angel. Castiel paused, wondering if the young creature had learned to slay yet, and if he should be afraid. The Kalkydri strode forward when Castiel failed to approach. Before Cas could even think about recoiling, the Kalkydri eagerly bumped its head against Castiel's chest. 

"Hello," Castiel said gently. The Kalkydri sniffed at his raised hand. The Kalkydri's two sets of wings (it was too young for all six to have grown in just yet) slowly lowered from their wary poses, and the young creature looked at Cas with an inquisitive mien. Castiel ran a hand down the creature's scaled head, taking care to avoid touching the wings on its upper back-- it would be rude to touch another's wings when you had only just met them. 

"My name is Castiel. My brother, over there, his name is Gabriel. He's been here a few times, but I have not." 

The Kalkydri pushed its head against Castiel's hand, arching into the touch. 

"I am new to this world. We have that in common." Castiel smiled down at the Kalkydri. 

The Kalkydri's small eyes, which had been brown, took on a blue tinge that Castiel recognized as the colour of his Grace. He looked towards Gabriel, surprised. He hadn't expected to Bond so quickly. 

The Kalkydri impatiently shoved its face into Castiel's chest, where the angel's Grace shined the brightest. Castiel felt a shift as his Grace's frequency subtly changed. Suddenly, Castiel remembered burning into existence on the surface of the sun, surrounded by millions of brothers and sisters, surrounded by singing and power and ether. Castiel remembered looking around at a world of light contrasting the sky of eternal darkness, and instinctively knowing _My Name Is Wuwonc._

Castiel blinked down at the Kalkydri, who's eyes were slowly fading back into brown. "Hello, Wuwonc," He whispered in awe. 

The Kalkydri (a phoenix, Castiel now knew) tilted her head. Her eyes held amusement, and Castiel got the feeling that she was laughing at him. Wuwonc's gaze shifted to Castiel's side, and he turned to find Gabriel standing there. 

"It worked," Cas beamed. "I can feel her."

"Yeah." Gabriel regarded Wuwonc curiously. "Your Grace is not stable enough for a permanent Bond, though. It is only temporary."

Wuwonc bared her teeth as though offended by Gabe's words. Gabriel winced, placing a protective hand on Castiel's shoulder, but the Kalkydri turned away from the two angels. With a flap of her wings, she was gone. 

Castiel made a disappointed noise in the back of his throat. "I liked her."

"I get the feeling she liked you, too. Who knows, maybe this shall not be the last time you meet." Gabriel wiggled his eyebrows, and Cas laughed at the sight. 

Gabriel grabbed his brother's hand, and the two moved away from the field of Kalkydri. "How is your Grace, Cassie?"

Cas squinted as he contemplated the question. "Better," he said eventually. 

"Are you sure?" 

Castiel nodded. Before the Bond, Castiel's Grace had been coming apart, fraying like an old rope. Each unraveled wavelength had been slowly changing, starting to vibrate at different frequencies. In an adult angel, this would have been a serious cause of concern, but it was typical in fledglings. 

There were two ways to stabilize one's Grace. The first way was to embrace an angel whose Grace was already stabilized. The stable Grace would act as a model for what the fledgling Grace should become, and the Grace would be able to fix itself accordingly. 

The second way was Bonding. Angels could Bond with divine wildlife (most commonly the Kalkydri) and with other angels. The process of resonating one's wavelength with another's could help stabilize fledgling Grace, but if the Bond wasn't strong and long-lasting, then neither was the stabilization. 

For some reason, Gabriel had needed Castiel to experience a Bond, however temporary it was. Gabe had noticed that angels weren't Bonding as much anymore. Things had been... tense, to say the least, in Heaven ever since Father had created the microbes. Lucifer had raised a fuss about it, and now there was an immense pressure to pick sides: you're either with the angels or you're with the microbes. There was no in between, no gray area, and no reasoning it out anymore. 

It was silly. And Gabriel should know; he was the master of silly. 

Maybe Gabe had just wanted to ensure that Castiel still had moments of wonder and peace in his childhood. Maybe Gabriel had only done it for himself, trying to revert back to a time when things were less stressful. When the angels had felt more like a family.

Gabe felt a tug on his arm as Castiel stopped to looking back at the field of Kalkydri.

"What is it, little bro?" Gabe quirked a brow at him.

"Why do angels not sing?" Castiel had an odd look on his face, like he was frowning and smiling at the same time. "The music is so beautiful."

"We sing sometimes."

The fledgling cast a doubtful look at his brother.

"We do!" Gabriel continued. "You just fail to remember because you've never paid attention, never thought to notice it before. Angels sing all the time."

"What do angels sing, then?"

Gabriel paused, abruptly realizing that it had been quite a while since he had heard one of his siblings burst into song. "We sing about everything."

"Everything," Castiel repeated skeptically. 

"Yeah." Gabriel quickly scooped up his little brother, agilely depositing Castiel to sit on his shoulders. Castiel extended his wings for balance, his hand instantly reaching down to cover Gabriel's eyes. 

Gabriel laughed, reaching up to bat away the little hands, only for them to instantly obscure his visual field again and again. "We sing about God. About love and family. About the animals and the nature that surround us. About the artistry of everything that exists."

"Including the specks?"

"The specks?"

"The ones Lucifer does not like," Cas clarified.

"Oh," Gabriel hesitated. "No, I don't think there are songs about the microbes."

"Why not?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you ask too many questions?" Gabriel grumbled. 

Castiel's hands covered Gabriel's eyes once more. "You say that like it is a bad thing, brother."

**Author's Note:**

> I guess a pronunciation guide might be in order. Here's how I've been pronouncing these weird names in my head.
> 
> Wuwonc: woo-uhn-k
> 
> Kalkydri: Calc-ee-dray
> 
> Chalkydri: Ch-al-key-dray
> 
> If you're curious about Wuwonc's name, I just went on google translate and translated "Sunspot" into Hebrew. I squinted at the Hebrew symbols for a bit until I came up with what their english alphabet translation might be, and thus, Wuwonc was made.


End file.
